While BJP has been saying that it will change candidates on about 80-90 seats in Rajasthan, sources said that it has been decided to drop several ministers in view of anti-incumbency.

rajasthan-electionsUpdated: Nov 02, 2018 09:25 IST

HT Correspondent

Hindustan Times, Jaipur

Ticket seekers for upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan along with their supporters wait to meet BJP leaders at the party office, in Jaipur, on Tuesday October 30, 2018. (Himanshu Vyas / HT Photo )

After two days of brainstorming, the BJP core committee on Tuesday narrowed down names of probable candidates for the assembly elections. The action will now shift to Delhi where the core committee will hold meetings on Wednesday.

While BJP has been saying that it will change candidates on about 80-90 seats, sources said that it has been decided to drop several ministers in view of anti-incumbency.

After the meeting, Rajasthan poll incharge Prakash Javadekar said that the names finalised here would be sent to the Centre which would declare the names at the appropriate time. Ahead of the election committee meeting scheduled for November 1, the core committee will now meet in Delhi on Wednesday to discuss the names of candidates.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje, state general secretary Chandrashekhar joint general secretary V Satish will hold meetings at the residence of Javadekar and BJP national president Amit Shah. Incidentally the Congress party too is holding meetings in Delhi to finalise its own candidates.

During the meetings in Jaipur over two days, the leaders discussed the names on the basis of three surveys that were done by the party at various levels. A fourth survey was done after the feedback meetings in Ranakpur and Jaipur and the names received in this survey too were discussed. Sources said two panel names were finalised on about 70 seats.

Consensus was arrived at for names of candidates on almost 75 seats such as those of chief minister Vasundhara Raje, home minister Gulab Chand Kataria and Panchayati Raj minister Rajendra Rathore. Names of candidates on seats where there is no controversy will figure in the first list that is likely to be released in the first week of November.

Meanwhile, after Dholpur district Congress president Ashok Sharma’s entry into the BJP, another Congress leader, Mahesh Pratap Singh of the former royal family of Nathdwara, joined the BJP on Tuesday.

Singh joined the party in the presence of chief minister Vasundhara Raje and state BJP president Madanlal Saini, Rajasthan poll incharge Prakash Javadekar and state incharge Avinash Rai Khanna. Welcoming Singh, Raje said his family was well-known in Mewar and his entry in the BJP would strengthen the party.

Singh hails from Kotharia in Nathdwara and is a descendent of Rajput king Prithviraj Chauhan.